There are endless threads on LinkedIn about the job market today. One such topic has recently piqued my interest: Do cover letters still matter? This (sometimes heated) debate rages on with no apparent end. Job seekers, recruiters, HR, and hiring managers chime in with their opinions. Some say the cover letter is dead, while others argue it’s indispensable to help an applicant stand out. A few take the middle ground. While sentiment matters, the posts I see in the volley of ‘in vs. out’ don’t appear to apply data to support either viewpoint. So, I decided to do my own digging.
We live in a world of one-click applications, AI-generated resumes, and job postings that attract hundreds (thousands?) of applications. Many applicants take the one-click approach. In their view, quantity matters more. The more applications they send, the higher the chance of an interview. This approach eschews cover letters by default. I, myself, am looking for employment. It’s only been 2 months, but I’m beginning to see the logic of that method. Still, I wonder if it’s as productive as it seems.
I think the truth lies somewhere in between. The way we hire and apply for jobs has changed a lot in the past several years, so the cover letter has to change as well. The question isn’t whether it’s obsolete; it’s what purpose it actually serves now. The data – and the rationale – tell a complicated tale.
A short history of the cover letter
The term itself, “cover letter,” was once literal. It was the first page — the covering letter — placed on top of the resume or application. The original purpose was to ‘cover’ what dry facts alone can’t. It expresses the character of the applicant, allowing them to stand out to the prospective employer.
The first traceable mention of a cover letter appeared in a New York Times want ad in 1956 for an industrial paint chemist at Dutch Boy Paints. The letter was a requirement for the applicant to send along with the resume. We don’t know who the lucky employee was, but that must have been one hell of a letter. By the 1960s, the cover letter became a non-negotiable addition for white-collar jobs, evolving to become a handshake of sorts on paper — brief, formal, and critical to making a good impression. Job applicants who sent a resume without a cover letter were often rejected without further review.
But the concept of adding a personal note to a prospective employer wasn’t new even then. Long before bulleted lists and job portals, in Victorian and Edwardian England, workers carried letters of character. Such documents were written by the employer and endorsed the honesty and competence of the applicant, which would make or break their future. No letter, no job.
And if you go back even further, in 1482, Leonardo da Vinci wrote to the Duke of Milan in what amounts to a Renaissance-era application letter, complete with a description of the war machines and bridges he could build. The man was centuries ahead of LinkedIn.
The job market has changed — a lot
The cover letter has survived the test of time. Mostly. Typewriters and fax machines gave the document a great deal of weight in the job market of the past. However, in this digital era, the cover letter is seen by many as headed for extinction.
With easy-apply buttons, AI-generated resumes, and a severe reduction of workers in the human resources industry, the landscape has become…well, weird.
Many companies are convinced that AI can automate several HR functions traditionally performed by people. This sentiment, in turn, has convinced job seekers to use that same technology to search for and apply to jobs. This dual automation seems like a chaotic and counterproductive feedback loop. Picture this: Someone applies to dozens of jobs before they finish their morning coffee. At the same time, an employer receives hundreds — sometimes thousands — of applications mere hours after posting a single role. This phenomenon changes everything we know about the business of job hunting and hiring.
Technology speeds parts of the process, but not the whole pipeline. Applicant tracking systems (ATSs) scan for keywords before a human ever glances at a resume. Hiring managers, inundated with applications that make it past the ATS, skim over each resume, taking only seconds to decide who makes it to screening. By the end of the day, every resume looks the same. Nothing stands out anymore; cognitive overload makes each resume start to blur together. Ironically, the “instant apply” button now seems to be the enemy — a curse on both job seekers and employers.
Yet, job hunters still need to stand out to employers. And employers still want a stand-out applicant. Both parties want more than a set of dry facts in bold font and bullet points. I think there’s some assumption on the part of the applicants that the interview is where they can shine. But a significant majority of applicants can’t even get past the AI-driven robot that strips the humanity out of the application and automatically routes it based on a laundry list of data points and keywords. This impersonal, automated process seems destined to set both applicant and employer up for failure.
So, why are we doing this? And is there anything we can do to change this self-defeating dynamic? To figure that out, we need to dig into some data.
What the data says
The cover letter seems to exist in a gray area — somewhere between essential and irrelevant. Little hard data is showing how job seekers view cover letters; it’s mostly anecdotal. A ResumeLab survey of hiring decision-makers reports that a mere 35% of job seekers included a cover letter when applying to a job post stating that cover letters were optional. More concerning, only 38% submitted one even when required. No matter what the job post says, 6 out of 10 don’t bother with a cover letter.
A more recent survey by MyPerfectResume tells a more optimistic story. Nearly 90% of job seekers believe a cover letter boosts the chance of an interview, while 65% regularly send cover letters with their applications.
Polls on LinkedIn and elsewhere lean heavily toward the opinion that cover letters aren’t worth the effort. A LinkedIn poll run by Salt indicates that among both job seekers and hiring pros, the resume is far more important.
On the flip side, most hiring managers and recruiters have a high opinion of cover letters. According to ResumeGenius, 68% of respondents say cover letters are important when deciding who to interview. Almost half say that a strong letter can redeem a weak resume. A full 83% say that they read them, even in companies that don’t require them. Even more eye-opening, 94% say that cover letters influence interview decisions.
That ResumeLab survey supports this view. Of a total of 200 respondents, 77% say that they give preference to candidates who include cover letters. Almost three-quarters say that they expect them, even if not required.
From this information, the cover letter looks like it’s not going anywhere. Boiled down, even optional cover letters are needed to step from ‘applicant’ to ‘candidate.’ Still, attitudes differ.
But this data still doesn’t tell the whole story. You can’t base the importance of cover letters so broadly. If there’s a single takeaway, it’s that cover letters still work — just not universally. Whether or not to use them is based on context.
The cover letter does make a difference — but only in certain cases
Cover letters are not dead, but they are not always necessary. Their importance depends on different factors, including job role, industry, and situation.
Let’s look at the job role aspect. A line cook seeking a job at a popular restaurant probably won’t need a cover letter. Reputation, or a colleague’s recommendation, often carries more weight. The same goes for jobs that require physical stamina or skill, like manufacturing, automotive repair, or construction work, where word-of-mouth beats paperwork. Similarly, for many entry-level jobs, a cover letter takes effort that might better be spent doing something else.
Conversely, applications for roles that require clear communication in day-to-day operations are likely to be better received when accompanied by a cover letter. Why? Most resumes are, by design, a stiff and boring bulleted list of career experience. It says nothing about how well you communicate. Leadership, creative, and analytical roles will almost always require a cover letter — even if the posting doesn’t mention it. My career hinges on my communication skills, so I add a cover letter to almost every job I apply for. If there’s a text field or a place to upload a cover letter, I’m using it.
In white-collar industries, like finance, tech, and marketing, a cover letter is still a standard practice. Client-facing or highly competitive roles will almost certainly benefit from a well-written cover letter.
The situation matters, too. A gap in employment, a career shift, or an unconventional path all benefit from some sort of explanation — and a cover letter is the most logical place to do it. Think of it as an elevator pitch, not a resume rehash — it’s the place to build your case for why you’re the best fit. If used, a cover letter should speak specifically to the role being applied for. I rarely use identical cover letters for different applications. I’ll either tweak a template I’ve created or I’ll craft one from scratch for a job I’m really interested in.
So, according to the data we’ve looked at, the cover letter’s relevance depends on a few things. When it is appropriate, that piece of (digital) paper can make the difference between the first interview and an automatic ATS rejection.
But how it’s written could matter even more. And that’s an entirely different discussion. Stay tuned.
Final thoughts
The cover letter is far from extinct — but it’s no longer the rigid formality it once was. To some, cover letters serve no purpose. To others, it’s a critical part of one’s job search. Today’s automated practices are supposed to make the process fast and efficient. But do these advancements bolster our efforts or stunt them? How can we, as job seekers, stand out to employers who are too busy to give our resumes even a glance? There’s no definitive answer. But I don’t believe I’m alone in thinking that both the job seeker and the employer benefit — and suffer — in the wake of this new way of seeking and hiring.
Perhaps the ultimate question isn’t whether cover letters matter. It’s whether we think they do.